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Sanitizing Effect of Ethanol Against Biofilms Formed by Three Gram-Negative Pathogenic Bacteria

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Abstract

Sanitizing effect of ethanol on a Yersinia enterocolitica biofilm was evaluated in terms of biomass removal and bactericidal activity. We found that 40 % ethanol was most effective for biofilm biomass removal; however, no significant difference was observed in bactericidal activity between treatment with 40 and 70 % ethanol. This unexpected low ethanol concentration requirement for biomass removal was confirmed using biofilms of two additional pathogenic bacteria, Aeromonas hydrophila and Xanthomonas oryzae. Although only three pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria were tested and the biofilm in nature was different from the biofilm in this study, the results in this study suggested the possible re-evaluation of the effective sanitizing ethanol concentration 70 %, which is the concentration commonly employed for sanitization, on bacteria in a biofilm.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Jin-Hyun Kim for generously providing the A. hydrophila strain. This work was supported by a Grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (No. PJ009490), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Products and Biotechnology, College of Forest Science, Kookmin University, 77 Jeongneung-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 136-702, Korea

    Han-Saem Park, Youngseok Ham, Keum Shin, Yeong-Suk Kim & Tae-Jong Kim

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  1. Han-Saem Park
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  2. Youngseok Ham
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  3. Keum Shin
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  4. Yeong-Suk Kim
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  5. Tae-Jong Kim
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Correspondence to Tae-Jong Kim.

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Park, HS., Ham, Y., Shin, K. et al. Sanitizing Effect of Ethanol Against Biofilms Formed by Three Gram-Negative Pathogenic Bacteria. Curr Microbiol 71, 70–75 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0828-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-015-0828-4

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